Fifa president Sepp Blatter today revealed he used to dive when he played in the top amateur league in Switzerland.

"I was not a perfect player, I have to say, being a striker," said Blatter. "I tried ... to get some advantages by joking with a player and then falling down by saying 'but he touched me'. And in fact it was not that. I did it."

Before the World Cup, Fifa instructed referees to clamp down on any diving and playacting, with Blatter claiming: "Diving is worse than shirt-pulling or tripping. It is betraying the players and the referee. I'm in favour of red cards for diving."

However, in a programme to be aired on CNN International on Saturday called Revealed: Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president said he understood why players dived. "I think that all players - especially attacking players - they do it because you go into the 18-yard area and then you lose the ball because somebody takes it away," he said.

"You are frustrated, and then in the frustration you do two things, either you try to get the ball back and then you commit a foul or you say 'but he touched me,' and then you fall down. I think this is a normal movement and I can understand the players acting like that. But now they are at the level of the World Cup and they are the professionals, so they should think about that, but it's in the game."